Sermanni: ‘A lot of things we need to work on’

New Zealand coach Tom Sermanni has played down his side’s performance following a 2-0 Cup of Nations win over Argentina on Sunday afternoon, noting preparations have only just begun ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™.

The Football Ferns were outplayed in a number of the match’s statistics, including possession, passing accuracy and shots on goal during the 90 minutes.

And, despite coming away with the win thanks partly to a Catherine Bott thunderbolt, Sermanni conceded his side had a long way to go if they are to register their first ever win in a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament.

“Realistically, we’re at a very early stage of preparation so I don’t want to say everything, but there are a lot of things we need to work on,” said Sermanni.

“We need to look down to even what system we’re going to play, how we’re going to play — are we going to be a team that presses high? Are we going to be a team that drops off?

“There’s a whole range of things I don’t know the answer to yet because, frankly, I just haven’t had enough time (with the players) for that situation to evolve."

It wasn’t all negativity from Sermanni, who lauded the importance of tournaments such of the Cup of Nations which give players vital playing time and coaches the chance to understand their squads.

Sermanni took charge of New Zealand in October last year, following the resignation of Andreas Heraf.

Given less than a year to prepare for the upcoming World Cup in France, Sermanni was cagey in his assessment of the 2-0 win.

“Always happy with the win, happy with the clean sheet,” said Sermanni.

“I thought our performance was probably a bit rusty — we made five changes from the starting team the other night, and it took us a while to get into the swing.

“This tournament has given me an opportunity to have a much closer look at players and to give some players some opportunities they haven’t been able to have.”